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June 30 Gianluigi Buffon, June 30th 2006Besides training, we’ve been trying to relax over the last couple of days — partly to relieve the tension before the quarter-final match against Ukraine and partly to get over our sadness after what happened to Pessotto. Some people, like me, have been listening to music (especially Italian music), while others, like Pippo Inzaghi, have been fishing in the lake next to our hotel or playing pool and table-tennis. Right now, though, we’re concentrating on the game.
On paper, we’re clearly the favourites, but we’ll have to consolidate our play on the pitch. It was very satisfying to me to get praise from such a giant figure as Platini, but I don’t think our only strength is our defence. It may sound like an obvious thing to say, but defending begins with the attacking players and passes via the midfielders — everyone has to pull together to make the team solid and leakproof. One of my favourite opponents will be playing for Ukraine — Shevchenko. We’ve faced each other before many times in league matches and cup competitions. For a goalkeeper he’s one of the most dangerous strikers of all, because as well as his obvious class, he’s very quick and unpredictable — you never can tell where the ball is going to come at you from. He also shoots with both feet equally accurately. Anyway, I hope that the match can be resolved without having to go as far as…you know what. I’m not at all keen on going through what happened in the past again or what happened in the Champions League! In any case, I’m an optimist and have great faith in our chances. I don't think Italy will get caught out by surprise and we'll play a good game, I reckon. What about the showmanship? Well, I don’t really think any other teams have placed more brilliantly than we have, to be quite honest. And what counts more than anything is the result. TrackbacksWeblogs that reference this entry
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